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Earth (SLD)
The identity of Earth is a topic of great discussion in academic circles. Arguments revolve around four principle worlds, now called "Oblivion," "Jahannam," "Atkonartok," and "Vitric." Topics in the arguments include other worlds about the sun, land forms, constructions, air, life, and legends, and run as follows. Oblivion Oblivion orbits a yellow-orange sun. Its four continents and two large islands are heavily cratered and glazed. Radiation levels are high over most of the landmass. Even without the radiation, the tropical band is too hot for human tolerance, and there are no ice caps. Favorable Arguments Oblivion has the four gas giant companions credited to Earth in some tales, although only two rocky companions rather than four. It is also lacking the large moon, and has instead a thin dust ring that is visible from the surface. However, Oblivion is in an unstable orbit around its sun. Within a few thousand years it will enter into a precipitous fall toward the sun and either be destroyed or flung out of the system. The Mishije people speak of an effort to move "the red world" out of its orbit and use it to completely destroy Earth. According to the legend, the red world misses its target, and a "red world" is now a metaphor for an enormous waste of effort. If, however, the red world did approach closely, it would explain the unstable orbit, the missing moon, the dust ring, and one of the missing worlds. The absence of a ninth world is unexplained, however. Contrary Arguments Oblivion has fewer than the seven continents attributed to Earth. If it is assumed that Earth was originally cooler, and had permanent polar ice caps, the two islands could be considered continents. This would make six. Some have argued that mountain ranges that divide the largest continent could be considered to separate it into smaller continents. Even if such an unlikely idea were held to by Earthlings, it would define eight continents, not seven. Another argument cites a legend of a sinking island (which is told in both Haalling and Edenic worlds), and asserts that the seventh continent was sunk during the Cataclysm. The legends, however, speak of an island, not a continent, and there is no geologic evidence of a destroyed continent. There is little life on Oblivion, only a few insects, plants, and marine invertebrates, with the usual protozoans. Of these, very few have any similarity with anything on other worlds. Some have argued that the radiation on Oblivion has caused such rapid mutation that the life is not recognizable. This "extreme bombing" theory is also used to explain the relative absence of construction. However, radiation levels are not significantly higher than Atkonartok or Vitric, and crater counts are not persuasive compared to the devastation of Vitric. Jahannam Jahannam is the only world in the Heartland apart from Haall that has a permanent human habitation. Settlers from Ummah came, having heard in a revelation that it was, in fact, Mother Earth. The revelation, to the prophet Shata in 84, instructed him to return the faithful to Mother Earth, and they have done so. Low rates of childhood survival, caused by virulent pathogens, have kept the colony always on the border of extinction, but it has always persevered. Favorable Arguments Jahannam is covered with the ruins of many cities, showing an advanced civilization of millions of people. Many plants and a number of animals that may have had an earthly origin are found here. The air is very breathable and the weather pleasant. Contrary Arguments Low rates of cratering and radiation suggest that Jahannam was not heavily bombed in the Cataclysm. The "High Contest" theory holds that Earth would have been highly contested, and therefore show the most damage. The countering argument is that Jahannam was destroyed early on by virulent biological weapons, perhaps accidental releases from labs. The system of Jahannam and continental structure do not correspond remotely with the most common legends of Earth. Jahannam has a blue-white sun, a second sun, a tiny core of an old dying sun, only 1200mlml13.4AU away, a single, very massive, gas giant, three rocky companion worlds, and four small moons. Some scientists simply discount the legends as inaccurate. The Edenic tradition does not include legends that correspond to the nine-world, seven continent stories of other peoples. Everywhere there are legends depicting Earth as sharing many features with the world where the tale is told. These facts often cited as evidence of the unreliability of folklore, although it does not account for the commonalities that can be found. As far as the Shatists are concerned, at any rate, the legends were created by Allah to conceal the identity of Earth from her unfaithful children. Atkonartok An ice ball covered by thick layers of clouds. The surface of Atkonartok had not even been seen until a manned landing, and it took three attempts for an explorer to return from the frigid, radioactive land. Ice is miles thick, and the only liquid water is over volcanic vents. In the winter in the high latitudes, a snow of crystalized dry ice will fall. Favorable Arguments The Atkonartok air is very breathable, once warmed. The system, with a large gas giant in a close orbit, three more distant ones, and six rocky worlds, closely resembles legend. The tenth world is in an elliptic orbit, only being visible every few centuries, and so may have been discounted. The extreme temperature is largely due to the heavy cover of reflective clouds, and the dry ice in the polar caps and on the ground in winter suggest that, once warmed, heat-trapping vapors would continue to warm the world. Contrary Arguments For a long time, the surface of Atkonarktok was unseen beneath the ice, and so could not enter the debate. It is now theorized that the world has nine large continents. Evidence of construction and life is minimal. Proponents suggest that the extent of ice would have destroyed such evidence, and may have actually broken up the continents, which is plausible, but unproven. More seriously, Atkonartok has two small moons, not one large. Proponents suggest that the moon was broken in two during the Cataclysm, but two hemispheres would be unlikely to wear into regular spheres in a few centuries, and the loss of mass required would certainly have cause a significant irregularity in the orbits of the moons. Vitric Vitric is an unlikely candidate mostly included by adherents of the "extreme bombing" theory. A highly radioactive, cratered, airless, waterless rock, mostly covered by a thick laminate of fused minerals. Favorable Arguments Vitric probably once had air and oceans, and the loss of the first casued the loss of the second. Radiation levels are the highest of any candidate world, and this plus the extensive cratering and lack of any evidence of construction are used to argue that Extreme Bombing must have occured. Extreme bombing supports the High Contest theory that Earth would have been highly contested. The bombing was so extreme that it ejected much of the world's atmosphere and disrupted the world's magnetic field, allowing the solar wind to blow away what remained. Contrary Arguments Although the Extreme Bombing theory has rendered any land or life-form based argument null, Vitric is outside the traditional theory of the Earthly neighborhood. It has two orange suns, one that it circles and one that follows a long path far away and then close in. Vitric has but one smaller gas giant, and two rocky neighbors, and it sports three small moons. The favorable arguments are then dismissed as not so much evidence as explanations for the lack of evidence. But most serious of all is the Mishese tradition that Misheji, being the world that had engineered the attempt to completely destroy Earth with the Red World, was annhilitated by the united other forces. Misheji, according to these tales, had two suns. Vitric is the closest world in the Heartland to Misheji space, and so is believed by most responsible theorists to be the Misheji homeland. Indeed, the Mishese have called it Misheji since 62. Notes Category:Suns of the Latter DaysCategory:Planets